- neously supposes to be the Rhaya of the Bible, our
traveller a few days afterward departed for Ispahan, where he remained nearly two years. Shah Solyman, the prince then reigning, whose character and court have been so admirably described by Chardin, was a man whose feeble constitution and feebler mind rendered him a slave to physicians and astrologers. He was now, by the counsel of his stargazers, a voluntary prisoner in his own palace, a malignant constellation, as they affirmed, menacing him with signal misfortunes should he venture abroad. On the 30th of July, however, the sinister influence of the stars no longer preventing him, he held a public levee with the utmost splendour and magnificence; upon which occasion, as Asiatic princes are peculiarly desirous of appearing to advantage in the eyes of strangers, all the foreign ambassadors then in the capital were admitted to an audience. Though the representatives of several superior nations, as of France, Germany, and Russia, to say nothing of those of Poland, Siam, or of the pope, were present, the ambassador of Sweden obtained, I know not wherefore, the precedence over them all. Probably neither the shah nor his ministers understood the comparative merits of the various nations of Europe, and regulated their conduct by the personal character of the envoys; and it would seem that Lewis Fabricius possessed the secret of rendering himself agreeable to the court of Persia.
Meanwhile Kæmpfer, who lost no opportunity of penetrating into the character and observing the manners of a foreign people, employed his leisure in collecting materials for the various works which he meditated. He bestowed particular attention upon the ceremonies and observances of the court; the character and actions of the shah; the form of government; the great officers of state; the revenue and forces; and the religion, customs, dress, food, and manners of the people. His principal inquiries,
